Posted on 03/16/2012 6:09:21 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
More than 20,000 public school teachers in California opened their mailboxes over the last few days to find a pink slip inside as districts dispensed the dreaded news to the educators that they may not have a job in the fall.
The layoff notices are preliminary, the districts' best guess at their funding after the Legislature concludes its annual budget fight this summer. But a proposed tax measure on the November ballot offers more uncertainty.
Voters could approve a tax increase that would prevent a $4.8 billion trigger cut to education funding, as proposed in the governor's budget.
That cut would be about $807 per student, the equivalent of 55,000 teacher layoffs or 17 days of school, according to The Education Coalitions.
The layoff notices were sent to teachers, librarians and others in schools all over California. Not many districts found a way to skirt the deadline.
San Francisco sent out 500 layoff notices.
In Los Angeles, 11,000 were sent.
About 700 were mailed in Sacramento.
Every school librarian in Union City got one, along with 100 teachers, administrators and other school staff.
Oakland Unified administrators found a way to balance its budget through attrition, elimination of adult education, across-the-board cuts at school sites, school mergers and closures, as well as other program cuts.
Disgruntled public
As the pink slip deadline approached, the mood in dozens of districts across the state reflected a growing public impatience with budget cuts to education. Parents protested, teachers rallied, and three students in San Leandro held a weeklong hunger strike to draw attention to the cost to classrooms.
In years past, many of the layoff notices issued by the March 15 deadline have been rescinded because of concessions from labor unions, changes to the state's revenue outlook or successful parcel tax measures.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Unexpected™
Since this is March with several more months to go I wonder how this is going to affect teaching?
Strategy: Pick 20,000 picketers and rabble-rousers NOW, the earlier the better, with which to make mah-hem, during the campaign to pluck the taxpayers.
They do this every year. Then most if not all get rehired.
Just in time for them to join occupy wall st.
scare tactics to force taxpayers to pass a tax increase
Great CA is starting to reap the rewards of their folly.
I imagine the firefighters and policemen will get them next. Gotta get the maggots out their raising hell and demanding that “the rich” pay more “fair share” for BIG government. The “fair share” they are already paying just isn’t cutting it.
I think this is just the first step in the usual California dire consequences ploy.
Vote to raise taxes, or we’ll fire all your kids’ teachers, close all the libraries, and let 30,000 murderers and rapists out of jail, to trim expenses.
Good!
I’m sick to death of trap they laid in Kalifornia!
The easiest way to take care of this problem is to stop “educating” foreign nationals who are in the state and country illegally. Just an idea.
How many of them were administrative bureaucrats?
I didn’t think you were capable of balancing the budget governor, but you’ve made a smart first move. Congratulations.
How do you expect them to cut spending?
Democrats have been forced to cut spending. There is NO money. Why don’t the eliminate the new CA Air Resources Board? Too many bloated state agencies.
Today in Michigan, the governor signed the bill ending automatic union dues collection for teachers and school employees.
On Wednesday he signed the bill that prevents grad students working as research assistants from unionizing.
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/16596
and three students in San Leandro held a weeklong hunger strike to draw attention to the cost to classrooms.
Starve you little bastards!
So teachers get pink-slipped. Then they get to collect their salaries for sitting on their butts. Once the coast is clear, they get re-instated with full pay and BACK pay for the "injustice" of being laid off.
Wish I had a job where I got to be completely incompetent, blame it on my "clients", get to take a 2 year paid vacation, then get re-hired, paid a nice chunk of change, and continue my incompetence.
Luckily I'd have my union to make sure that the politicians they've paid off get re-elected so the gravy train continues... forever. Or until I retire at 50, when I REALLY get paid.
They can cut spending, they are administration-heavy these days.
Usually, but there is only so much the taxpayer can take. The state may be bluffing, but eventually the taxpayer will call that bluff.
This is done for two reasons:
1) It allows the State legislature to panic the citizens saying that if they don’t raise taxes, thousands of teachers will be laid off.
2) It helps the CTA in negotiations by allowing them to panic the local parents into forcing the school boards to agree to anything the CTA wants.
You forgot threatening to lay off police and firemen, close all state parks and cancel road repair/construction projects in heavily-traveled areas. Same old carrot-and-stick politics that always seems to work.
All the sane people have moved out it seems
Well since they know their contracts won’t be renewed they’ll just sit on their butts as you say.
It is time that the teacher unions along with SEIU go on strike until the cities resind the letters and give them a 10% pay raise as an apology. Let the cities lay off the garbage men, road repair folks, and the meter readers instead.
It is time that the teacher unions along with SEIU go on strike until the cities resind the letters and give them a 10% pay raise as an apology. Let the cities lay off the garbage men, road repair folks, and the meter readers instead.
they had 20% less tax revenue last quarte in CA, Do they get the over regs gave sent businesses packing?
Winner !! You are correct. And furthermore, this happens EVERY YEAR. The school districts are required by law to post these advance notices. And then the following school year. Almost EVERY teacher is hired back. This is standard operating procedure as usual for California. Same 'ol, same 'ol. And after this proposed tax increases fail at the ballot box this year , a FEW teachers will be laid off, while class sizes stay about the same, because so many students are leaving California with their out of work, overtaxed parents. And so many more will become home schooled.
They paid for brand new entitlement program- the Dream Act ,with their jobs!
I’ll eat my shorts if ANY of these “teachers” actually lose their jobs.
Another summer of threats before the stupid taxpayers get ripped off again. Insanity .... doing the same thing again and again but expecting different results!
“Parents protested...”
Irresponsible parents don’t want their favorite middle-class welfare program cut. Too bad, though, that they aren’t laying off 200,000 or 300,000 “educators” to send the unions a message.
64 teachers were laid off in 2010. They give out massive notices in March, again in May, and then actually layoffs are miniscule.
Did they say anything about support staff? Administrators, counselors, IT staff, middle management?
Of course not. For that would not resonate with taxpayers. Private industry, i.e. rational people do not do this. Look at the last layoff at say Blizzard Entertainment in Irvine. The announce 600 layoffs, but almost none of them are game developers.
These clowns could lay of 20,000 and few of them have be teachers. They could outsource janitorial and maintenance for example.
Clearly the only way for California to stave off bankruptcy is to plead ‘too big to fail’ to the Federal Reserve and persuade the central bank to buy California bonds. Those flat-earthers in the House will make a stink about the administration sending Obamabucks to Sacramento but the Fed can just slip it onto the balance sheet. Just leave enough for Illinois and New York.
Did anyone notice that in Wisconsin no one is laid off? How did that happen? Do you think that Gov. Walker has a great plan??
pink every teacher and close all public schools!!!
They are nothing but communist endoctrination centers!!
Choosing which teachers to lay off was easy. They just picked the ones who can’t speak Spanish.
What do you call 20,000 laid-off teachers?
A start.
Hey teachers union, how is that Hope and Change working out for you now? Send the Bozo more money and everything will be okay.
This allows these teachers to collect unemployment during the summer.
Good news continues to come out of Michigan, except for Detroit. It’s like the Dems aren’t paying attention there. What are the chances that MI will go red this election?
Chicago - “Only the Beginning”
Couldn’t happen to a nicer communist state.
More of Obama’s “Hope and Change”. (He hopes you find a job; and he thinks you need a change in your work).
The California Teachers Union is a leftwing cesspool. Fire their top officials and you might begin to clean up the educational mess. Otherwise, stew in your own shit.
Many tens of thousands to go in all states in order to correct the problem. Privatize it all.
I wonder how this is going to affect teaching?
While I’m not sure how teaching will be affected the results can’t be any lower than they are now in California. It seems like spending on education has little to do with educating our children. The more we spend the worse the results. While I have no idea if it’s the teachers, the administrators, the students, the parents or society in general, all efforts are failing and no one is fixing the problem.
Many of us are sick and tired of paying more and more for less and less.
It is time that the teacher unions along with SEIU go on strike
Many of us and most of my friends are so fed up that they would see a strike as a chance to break the unions. I can say with certainty that I don’t know anyone who will vote for any tax increase or any bond issue of any type for any reason. That’s how fed up we are. Threaten all you want legislators, we’re willing to do whatever is necessary to starve you of increased revenue.
CA is laying off tens of thousands of government unionized parasites, and some bucket mouth from Georgia suggest this is a bad thing?
Good thinken Georgia!
I’m glad I was home schooled. When I had to go to a local school for tests I always placed in the high 90’s.
“So teachers get pink-slipped. Then they get to collect their salaries for sitting on their butts. Once the coast is clear, they get re-instated with full pay and BACK pay for the “injustice” of being laid off.”
Sorry, it doesn’t work that way, even here in California. Each teacher has a yearly contract which is either renewed or they get a pink slip before April first as prescribed by law. The state has usually “found a way” to “rehire” these layoffs before school starts in the Fall, but absent a contract, they will not be sitting around drawing a salary for doing nothing.
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